About Us

The PURPOSE of The Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa (IFAISA) is to make Accountability matter.

It is our MISSION to hold the leaders of the region accountable for respecting, protecting, promoting and fulfilling the rights of the people.

Our VISION is to live in a country in which society feels safe and secure in the knowledge that the focus of the leadership is to hold human rights paramount.

The Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa (IFAISA) is devoted to upholding constitutionalism in Southern Africa through the inculcation of the values of accountability and responsiveness to the needs of the people of the region in its governments, parastatal organisations and civil society, including business and industry.

South Africa’s Constitution is a landmark, visionary document that guarantees fundamental human rights and good governance that can be respected by all segments of society. An issue of growing concern is that in the implementation of the Constitution various interest groups have sought to undermine the basic functioning of the Constitution.

IFAISA’s mission is to highlight those aspects of constitutionalism that work well, and to identify those issues where the power of the Constitution could be brought to bear more assertively in solving problems that are of concern to the South African society at large. In some cases, IFAISA has had no option but to litigate cases before the Constitutional Court.

IFAISA is a non-political, not for profit organization (NPO) that works with legal counsel on a contingency basis in litigation matters and seeks no financial gain for the Institute itself.

IFAISA believes that accountability is ‘hand in glove’ with the duty that comes with the elected privilege of serving the people and is the bedrock of true democracy and effective governance.